comparatively dry and no embankments are required. This is not, of course, intended to be an
exhaustive description of the differences between the two systems (for which there is here no
space), but merely to point out certain salient differences. A specimen of the charms used by
the orang bĕrhuma (“dry padi” planters) will be found in the Appendix. The account in the text
refers only to the wet method, which is by far the more important one, though the dry
cultivation is probably the more ancient of the two. ↑
190
An account of the birth of Muhammad which is intoned by a number of people in the
mosque. ↑
191
The tajak may perhaps be better described as a (kind of) hoe than a scythe. ↑
192
Two strips of cocoa-nut leaf are braided into a square bag, hollow inside, which is half filled
with rice, and then boiled so that when cooked the rice fills the bag. ↑
193
Flour is mixed with sugar and with the expressed juice of the pulp of the cocoa-nut, and put
into a piece of plantain leaf about two fingers long, which is then folded and the whole is
steamed, that is put into a pail known as kukusan, which is placed in a large pan containing
water having a fire lighted under it so that the contents of the kukusan are cooked by means of
steam only. ↑
194
Tĕpong tawar consists of rice-flour mixed with water. A bundle is made of the following
leaves, ribu-ribu (a creeper), gandarusa, sĕnjuang, sambar dara, sipuleh, sitawar and chakar
bebek (a small shrub); the end of this bundle is dipped into the tĕpong tawar, which is then
sprinkled about. ↑
195
The italics are mine.—W. S. ↑
196
Licuala paludosa, Griff, and other species. ↑
197
Jari lipan—lit. centipede’s feet, i.e. a sort of fringe generally made of plaited strips of cocoa-
nut leaf. ↑
198
Tĕrap—a kind of wild bread-fruit tree. ↑